Tuesday, December 7, 2010

LOLs

Hey everybody! It's been a really long time since I contributed to this blog but I felt like I needed to today, so here I am.

Today was Little Old Lady (LOL) day. Seriously. I don't know if they all came in on a bus together or something but every other customer I helped was a grandma-lady over 70 that had a list of books to find for themselves or their grandkids. And a grandpa-husband carrying bags looking for somewhere to sit down and take a snooze while their better half takes care of the shopping.

Every single list was written on paper that looked like it was from the Depression and, they were rationing it too. There was old lady cursive scrawled on every single available space of that tiny Post-it note that has no stick left because it has been in an ancient steno notebook at the bottom of your purse next to your old Kleenex and hard butterscotch candies FOREVER!

And I just have to say...statistically, not every grandchild in the world can be "bright" and "reading way above his/her level." There have to be some dull bulbs out there. I would much rather help someone find a book for a kid "who just likes the pictures" or "wants something short with some mazes or dot-to-dots in it." At least it is honest.

Last week I was taking a grandma back to kids and she said, "My grandson's really bright, he's really an advanced reader."

I said, "They--," and then I stopped myself. I was going to say, "They all are."

Let me put this out there, if you know a kid who would rather read a comic book or look at pictures of animals or play with one of those books that only exists so you can push a button and hear Spongebob/Cinderella/Dora/Elmo talk...send them my way...I have just the book for them.

Plus, if I sell it, all the other kids that "shop" at the store won't be able to drive me nuts with it!

I always thought working in a bookstore would be like the movie "You've Got Mail" - helping kids find the books that would help shape the kind of person they would be. Then I started working in a Fox Books like store that rhymes with Narnes & Boble. These are all true stories that have happened to me or my fellow booksellers. Enjoy!